Cigarette making machinery



Oct. 17,1961 D. w. MOLINS 3,004,539

CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINERY Filed Sept. 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 AWE/V702(QMWZ w/ W Oct. 17, 1961 D. w. MOLINS 3,004,539

CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINERY Filed Sept. 9, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gi VQMM/ 4% 2 /4 4 United States Patent 3,004,539 CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINERYDesmond Walter Molins, Deptford, London, England, assignor to MolinsMachine Company Limited, a company of Great Britain Filed Sept. 9, 1959,Ser. No. 838,870

Claims priority, application Great Britain Sept. 26, 1958 2 Claims. (Cl.131-109) This invention concerns improvements in or relating tocigarette-making machinery, and in particular, apparatus for feeding cuttobacco in such machinery.

According to the present invention there is provided atobacco-manipulating machine, such as a continuous rod cigarette-makingmachine, comprising a plurality of tobacco-hoppers arranged side by sideand each arranged to feed tobacco continuously, and a conveyor arrangedto move past the said hoppers so as to receive tobacco from differenthoppers in succession, whereby tobacco from the said different hoppers(e.g. tobacco of difi'erent types or blends) can be mixed while beingfed through the machine, e.g. towards means for forming a tobacco fillerin a cigarette-making machine.

The said hoppers may each include means to impel tobacco in a directiontransverse to the direction in which the said conveyor moves, andbafiles or chutes may be disposed obliquely across the conveyor tointercept the tobacco so impelled and to direct it downwardly towardsthe conveyor, whereby the tobacco so intercepted is distributed acrossthe Width of the conveyor. There may, for example, be provided a pair ofbafiles or chutes asso ciated with a pair of adjacent hoppers, the saidbafiles being arranged to extend obliquely across the conveyor inopposite directions and from a common position close to the adjacentends of the said two adjacent hoppers.

The different hoppers may be separately controlled so as to be capableof supplying tobacco at different rates (e.g. in order to mix differenttobaccos in varying proportions).

The apparatus may comprise means to impel tobacco in a manner such as tocause it to be deposited on a conveyor band arranged to move past thesaid plurality of hoppers in a direction transverse to the direction inwhich the tobacco is impelled. One or more bafides or chutes may bedisposed across the conveyor band obliquely of the direction of movementof the latter and positioned to intercept tobacco so impelled and todirect it downwardly towards the conveyor, whereby tobacco sointercepted is distributed across the widthof the conveyor.

Apparatus in accordance with the invention will now be described by wayof example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an end view of apparatus for feeding cut tobacco in acigarette-making machine.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, certain partsbeing omitted and certain parts being broken away, and

FIGURE 3 is a front elevation of the same.

FIGURE 1, being an end view, shows only one of a pair identical side byside hoppers which are separated by a partition 1. Each hopper comprisesa feeding drum 2, provided with retractable pusher pins 2a, which feedstobacco towards a carded drum 3, which latter carries tobacco upwardlypast a raking device 4 and a tamping device 5 of known kind. A cardedbrushing or refuser drum 6 brushes back surplus tobacco from the drum 3,and the layer or carpet of tobacco on the drum 3 is picked from thecarding of the drum 3 by a rotating pin roller 7. The picked tobacco isimpelled over a concave guide 8 and is engaged and thrownforwardly by apicker roller 9.

A wide endless conveyor band 10 extends lengthwise ice across the frontof both hoppers, as can beseen in.

FIGURES 2 and 3, so as to move past both hoppers in a directiontransverse to that in which tobacco is impelled by the picker rollers 9.

Above the band 10 are two Walls 11 and 12 (FIGURES 1 and 2) which, asbest seen in FIGURE 2, extend obliquely across the whole width of theband 10 in opposite directions, the two walls respectively being locatedopposite the two separate hoppers and extending from a common positionclose to the adjacent ends of the two hoppers. The wall 11 is shownbroken away in FIGURE 1. These walls extend vertically downwards almostto the band 10, and are high enough to intercept all the tobaccoimpelled forwardly by the picker rollers 9, thus constituting'baflles orchutes, and forming an enclosure open at its upper end. Due to theoblique arrangement of the walls 11 and 12, particles of tobacco flungfrom different parts along the lengths of the picker rollers areintercepted by the walls at different positions across the width of theband 10, and fall on to the band at those positions. By this arrangementthe tobacco coming from each hopper is distributed fairly evenly overthe conveyor band. Further, tobacco coming from the right-hand hopper(as viewed in FIGURES 2 and 3) and falling on to the conveyor band willbe carried past the left-hand hopper, at which position tobacco comingfrom the lefthand hopper will be distributed over the tobacco alreadyreceived on the band from the right-hand hopper. Thus the tobacco fromthe two separate hoppers is mixed while being fed on to the conveyorband.

The drums 2 and 3 and associated devices, including rollers 7 and 9, inone hopper are mounted and driven independently of those in the adjacenthopper, in order that the two hoppers can, if desired, be operated atdifferent speeds in order to supply two different types or blends oftobacco in any desired proportion. The driving arrangements for eachseparate hopper may be of any suitable known kind.

The conveyor band 10 conveys the mixed and distributed tobacco towardsfurther mechanism by which the tobacco is fed into a passage throughwhich a high velocity stream of air is caused to flow so as to carry thetobacco towards a perforated conveyor band on which it forms a tobaccofiller, in the manner disclosed in U.S. patent applications Serial Nos.479,573 and 738,805. This mechanism is shown in FIGURE 3. A cardedroller 13 mounted for rotation over a concave guide plate 14 receivesthe tobacco from the conveyor band 10, and a fast-rotating picker roller15 picks the tobacco from the carding of the roller 13 and impels itover a plate 16. The apparatus shown in FIGURE 3 to the left of andincluding the picker roller 15 is substantially identical with theapparatus described and illustrated in US. Pat. applications Ser. Nos.479,573 and 738,805 referred to above, and need only be briefly referredto here.

This apparatus includes a narrow passage 17 which extends upwardlytowards a narrow perforated metal conveyor band 18 which is arranged torun lengthwise through the passage. A suction chamber 19, above the band18 is connected with a suction fan (not shown) whereby a stream of airis drawn at high velocity upwardly through the passage 17 and throughthe band 18.

A perforated cylinder 20, arranged to rotate as shown by the arrow,communicates with an air duct 21 through which air is drawn upwardly soas to pass through the cylinder 20.

Air is drawn, both into the passage 17, and through the perforatedcylinder 20. into the duct 21, from a conduit (not shown) locatedbeneath a perforated plate 22. The direction and velocity of the airflowing towards and past the rotating cylinder 20 is such that tobaccoparticles impelled across the plate 16 by the picker roller 15 m ss-naeare caused to move in a substantially arcuate path about the cylinderinto the passage 17. The velocity of the air stream in the passage '17is such that the tobacco pa t c s ar y o n yesse e t da d e by caus dray Lnpwa dly. hrough t p ss g in s bst ly epara ed condition- .0 a h ngo yor an 18 the tobacco particles build up on the underjside of the bandand form a continuous tobacco filler which is held o t e band y u ioWhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by ett rs Pa e t A obaco-m nipulating. machine, ch as a .c ntinu u od ciga ettein ng-"ma hinmpr sing. a p urality of tobacco. feeding devicesarranged side by sideand each arranged to feed tobacco continuously, and a conveyor arrangedto rnove past the said devices so as to receive tobacco from differentones of said'devices in succession, whereby tobacco from the saiddifferent dev ce can be mix while be ng fed thro g t achine, ach o sobacco-feeding d c s mp si g. m ns to impel tobacco in a directiontransverse to the direction r in which the said conveyor moves, saidmachine including walls disposed obliquely across the conveyor, each ofsaid walls being located opposite one of said tobaccofeeding devices, tointercept the tobacco so impelled and to direct it downwardly toward-theconveyor, whereby the tobacco -so intercepted is distributed across thewidth Of-the conv y 1 2. 'A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein a pairof said walls is located opposite a pair of adjacent tobaccofeedingdevices; the said pair of walls being arranged to extendobliquely across the conveyor in opposite directions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS457,847 Carlie Aug. 18, 1891 1,183,618 'Aiton May 16, 1916 2,166,022Repper July 11, 1939 20 2,211,172 Shackleton Aug. 13, 1940

